


tonight, as every night

by entangledwood (Eryn)



Series: Transformer Prides [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Breeding Kink, Harems, Kink Meme, Knotting, M/M, Mech Preg, Multi, Pregnant Sex, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Transformer Sparklings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-07 22:00:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14680332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eryn/pseuds/entangledwood
Summary: The best part of the cycle, in Megatron's opinion, is the joors he spends with his pride, where his biggest worry is keeping his sparklings in line and his carriers happy. Both of which he has ample experience in.





	1. Dinner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goresque](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goresque/gifts).



> Written for a [prompt](https://tfanonkink.dreamwidth.org/26881.html?thread=16306689) at the Transformers kink meme which asked for harem-like groupings being the norm in Cybertronian relationships, Megatron being the stud of his pride, and him taking good care of his carriers&sparklings. Also breeding kink with non-human pregnancy.
> 
> I decided to go with Soundwave, Knock Out, Breakdown, and Deadlock for the pride. Yes, there's no Deadlock in TFP, which mostly means I am playing fast and loose with what I've learned from other continuities/fanfics thereof.
> 
> Set at some vague point pre-series, before Megatron abandoned the Nemesis, spent too much time looking into the black, and went quietly insane (reavers, anyone?)

Megatron had no idea how Prime did it. Having half his pride off planet had to be driving the other stud insane. Not that Optimus had ever properly settled into the role the matrix had forced on him. But still, the very idea made his plates clamp tight to his frame. Megatron would never allow any of his carriers to be separated from the pride for long. Just look at the mess that was Starscream. 

With Thundercracker and Skywarp on a long distance mission that was already lasting twice as long as initially projected the Seeker was becoming more and more erratic. Honestly, if he didn't know how possessive Thundercracker was, Megatron would offer to take Starscream into his own pride until his trinemates got back. Though chances were his own pride would murder him in his sleep if he added the Air Commander to the mix. Unfortunately he couldn’t just send Starscream to his trinemates either. He needed the mech here, and if he forced Starscream to stick to a short visit he would likely come back sparked. Mostly to make Megatron’s live difficult. And without the other seekers to support him…well, it didn't bear thinking about. Megatron would have to find another way to keep the Seeker in working shape. 

But that was a thought for tomorrow’s duty shift. For now Megatron was on his way to his pride’s quarters for the night. He allowed himself a last sigh as he stepped through the door. The sound level in the family room was, as usual, deafening. With Soundwave and Breakdown still on duty, and Deadlock too far into his carry to move much, it was left to Knock Out to herd their sparklings through their bedtime routine.

"No, no, you have to eat it, sweetheart. Not wipe it on your plating," the racer was urging, trying to wipe down Silvershine, while keeping his optics on Ratbat. Their youngest, thankfully, was still too weak to fly under his own power. For now he simply enjoyed flapping his wings and hovering an inch over the ground. In a few weeks they would have to tie him to the chair for dinner so he wouldn't float away. At least Rumble, Frenzy and Mayhem were finally old enough not to need hands-on supervision during mealtime.

"Sire!" Silvershine had spotted him first and doubled her squirming to get out of Knock Out's hold. The other sparklings too the chance and quickly pushed back their chairs. After all Knock Out couldn’t hold them all as they climbed to the ground. 

"No. Let me wipe you down first." Knock Out tightened his hold and firmly rubbed the cloth over Silvershine’s frame. "That's what you get for playing with your Energon instead of drinking it."

"Sire! Sire!" The other sparklings had picked up the call. Megatron smiled and surreptitiously made sure the door was locked behind him. Only then did he sit on the ground and let himself be swarmed.

"Good evening, my little ones. Were you good for Knock Out today?" He gathered them up one by one, kissing their helms and placing them on his arms and shoulders. A chorus of 'yes' rang off his plating as he pushed to his feet. Megatron didn't quite believe them, given Knock Out's harried look.

"They were, actually," Knock Out agreed. "But with Deadlock out of commission it was a long cycle." He still had Silvershine in his arms, but stopped to pick up a squirming Ratbat as well. They met in the middle for Knock Out to deposit the sparklings in Megatron's arms. They each received their welcome home kiss and got settled in their sire’s arms. Once that was taken care of the medic leaned in for a kiss of his own which Megatron was all too happy to grant him.

"I'm pleased to hear that,” Megatron rumbled and nuzzled a red cheek. Then he straightened and turned his attention to his sparklings. “Now little ones, who is done with dinner?"

Unsurprisingly, everyone was. Megatron shared a look with Knock Out, who laughed and shook his head.

" _Ratbat_ is done with dinner. Silvershine is wiping dinner all down her plating, Rumble and Frenzy are trying to sneak their dinner into each other's cube, and Mayhem doesn't want to eat his dinner at all."

Megatron frowned at each sparkling in turn. They all whined and groaned and slumped dramatically on his frame, but Megatron didn’t let himself be deterred. One by one he scruffed them and dropped them back into their seat until only Ratbat was left cuddled against his chest plates.

"Ratbat and I will be in the washrack. Then we will settle down for storytime." He stroked a hand over his youngest plating.

Ratbat giggled happily and grabbed at the plates on Megatron’s arm. The older sparklings pouted and shot their youngest sibling dirty looks.

"Once you have finished your dinner you may follow us."

The sparklings _dove _for their cubes.__

__"They will be covered in Energon by the time they're done," Knock Out sighed and leaned into Megatron's side._ _

__The warlord wrapped his free arm around his mate and pulled Knock Out in for a kiss to the cheek. "I will take my time with bathing Ratbat. You just send them to me once they are done."_ _

__"Very well." Knock Out turned and pressed his lips to Megatron’s shoulder. "Welcome home, my Lord."_ _


	2. Havoc

Megatron took his time to settle the sparklings to recharge. He enjoyed spending time with them in the evening, spinning more or less fantastic stories for them until they nodded off against his frame. Tonight he’d told them the story of kind-sparked Orion, who got caught by bandits and rescued by his valiant hero. Once even Frenzy had fallen into recharge Megatron carefully extracted himself from the sparkling pile. One by one he settled them into their berths, tuned his comm suite into the monitoring frequency of the nursery, and then stepped out into the family room.

Breakdown had recently come off duty. He was curled up on the couch with Knock Out, who seemed to be dozing while Breakdown had his evening Energon. Megatron quietly moved over to the couch and leaned in for a quick welcome kiss before leaving the two to their own devices. He had Deadlock to check in on, after all.

The lights in the racer's room were off, but Megatron didn’t need them to find his way to the berth. Fuzzy crimson optics and the sound of cooling fans lead the way to his very pregnant carrier. The smell of lubricant and ozone was thick in the air and Megatron couldn’t suppress the growl as he settled onto the berth.

"Megatron," Deadlock gasped and laboriously pushed himself closer. He was late into the carrying, the sparkling’s smooth shell filling most of his abdominal cavity, leeching energy and nutrients from Deadlock’s frame. It left him weak and unbalanced, dependent on the pride for care and protection in a way he rarely was.

Megatron loved seeing him and the others like this. It satisfied something deep in his processor to have his pride heavy with his offspring. His engine was already running faster when he helped Deadlock to move in, arranging his mate comfortably against his front. One hand settled on Deadlock’s neck so he could tilt his head up for a long kiss. "Deadlock. Knock Out said you spend the entire cycle in here?" Megatron kept one arm wrapped around Deadlock's shoulder, and ran the free hand down his front.

Deadlock groaned and pushed into the touch, his own arm more patting at gray plating than anything else. "Yes. Our little one kept me up again. It's been rubbing all over my internals."

"It is strong," Megatron agreed. He could feel the plates move under his hands where the sparkling pressed out. At this point it was still more a sphere than anything else, silver plating over the developing protoform, but it was moving nonetheless. Megatron stroked further down over Deadlock’s stomach and felt the reciprocal pressure moving with him.

Deadlock whimpered and pushed himself closer, pawing at Megatron and rubbing his helm against his stud’s shoulder. “Megatron, please.” The sparkling was more than eager to follow its sire’s touch, which mostly meant it was pushing down on every single sensitive valve node. The little pit-spawn had already spent most of the day cuddling up to Deadlock’s ceiling node, and now it was rubbing all over everything else as well.

“What do you need, Deadlock?” Megatron mouthed at the racer’s audial and rubbed down further until he reached the very ready valve. Two fingers slipped inside easily and Megatron didn’t hesitate to push them deep and rub over the sensitive lining.

“Frag me,” Deadlock gasped and pushed down as best he could, calipers clenching around the fingers. “Please, need you.”

“Of course.” Megatron kissed a trail down Deadlock’s neck and pushed his fingers firmly against as many nodes as he could comfortably reach.

Deadlock whimpered and didn’t fight much when Megatron turned him around. He mostly focused on settling comfortably on the mounds of pillows. 

Throughout the rearranging Megatron kept mouthing Deadlock’s neck and shoulder, making the smaller Decepticon gasp and squirm as much as his state allowed. He loved having his pride like this, heavy with his sparklings and desperate for his touch. A brilliant contrast to their usual warrior demeanor. It was enough to get Megatron’s engine trying to keep pace with Dreadlock’s racing frame. His spike pressurized quickly and he easily lifted Deadlock’s leg to settle on top of him.

“Come on.” Deadlock was panting now, arching into the contact and reaching behind himself to rub at Megatron’s plating.

The warlord dug his teeth into the nape of Deadlock’s neck right on top of the mating bite and sunk his spike into the eager valve.

Deadlock keened and went slack underneath his lover, valve calipers working furiously and vents blazing to try and expel the excess heat. Charge danced over his sensors and through the sparkling, making the sphere tremble as it absorbed part of the energy. Yes, it would be a strong one. Just like his little Mayhem was.

Megatron set a slow, grinding pace, rubbing his spike over as many nodes as he could reach, grinding into Deadlock’s ceiling node to drive his charge higher and higher. His small lover was panting beneath him, gasping and whimpering and pleading for more. Megatron felt his own frame heat. His teeth were still worrying the mating bite. The sensor cluster beneath was extremely sensitive from vorns of similar treatment, so it came as no surprise that Deadlock didn’t hold out. Not that Megatron wanted him to. He just kept rocking his hips and grinding his spike into Deadlock’s valve until he overloaded with a shout. 

For a moment Megatron considered just staying like this, buried deep inside the carrier until he overloaded as well. He could take his time, drive up Deadlock’s charge again, and then push him into another overload. But no, from Deadlock’s dreamy sigh the release of charge had actually managed to settle not just the carrier, but also their sparkling. Megatron lightly stroked his fingertips over Deadlock’s plating, but the sparkling didn’t even stir. Megatron smiled and trailed a line of kisses up to Deadlock’s audial. “You should get some rest.”

“hmmm.” Deadlock nodded already halfway to recharge. Megatron slowly pulled back and made sure to settle the pillows firmly around his lover before he pushed off the berth. Time to see what Knock Out and Breakdown were up to.


	3. Knock Out

Megatron’s frame was still thrumming with charge, spike fully pressurized and sticky with Deadlock’s lubricant. It was painful to cram it back behind the panel. But ever since Ravage had grown enough to open doors they’d had a firm ‘no interfacing in the family room’ rule. And that included ‘no spikes on display’. So he grit his teeth and left Deadlock to his recharge.

Luckily the family room was empty. No sparklings out of bed yet. And Megatron knew where the other two had disappeared. Knock Out and Breakdown had been sharing a room since before Megatron had moved his pride to the Nemesis. 

They were sprawled on their berth with Knock Out’s face buried in Breakdown’s array. The blue mech was moaning continuously, hands holding tight onto the sheets. Megatron licked his lips at the sight and locked the door behind him. Only then did he allow his panels to snap aside again to free his spike. 

Breakdown’s eyes locked onto him and he gasped, hand shooting down to keep Knock Out in place. “Lord Megatron.”

Knock Out groaned, loud enough to be heard over both of their fans, and arched his back in invitation.

An invitation that Megatron was all too happy to take. Three steps took him to the berth and he settled in behind Knock Out with one hand on the racer’s hips. The other took Breakdown by the helm to pull him in for a much deeper kiss than they’d shared earlier.

Breakdown leaned forward eagerly, one hand still firm on Knock Out’s helm, the other reaching out to steady himself on Megatron’s shoulder. The kiss was long and deep and Breakdown moaned shamelessly into it. Knock Out already had two fingers in his valve and was working on adding a third, mouth busy on his spike. Breakdown was trembling beneath the touch and arched into the sensation as much as into the kiss.

Beneath them Knock Out was arching into the contact as much as he could. Megatron was rubbing his wet spike all over the racer’s aft, hand still firm on his hip to hold him in place. It left Knock Out little room to move where he was boxed in between the two larger mech. Not that he minded, no, Knock Out was very much where he wanted to be. Half the thrill was their hands and spikes on him, half was the fact that they were kissing above him, their fans blasting him with hot air, and their charge jumping from their frames to his. Knock Out wiggled in Megatron’s hold, trying to raise his aft enough that the warlord’s spike would slide between his thighs instead of slicking up his back plating.

Megatron growled into Breakdown’s mouth and tightened his grip on Knock Out’s plating. His claws were dipping into sensitive seams, teasing the sensors hidden beneath. A thrill went through his spark as both of them moaned. He ended the kiss and bent down to place one on Knock Out’s helm next to Breakdown’s hand. A shiver sent the red mech’s plates rattling from his helm to his pedes. They flicked against Megatron’s spike in a tickling caress that had the warlord involuntarily rev his engine. “You seem eager tonight.” Another kiss dropped slightly lower on Knock Out’s neck cabling. “Do you want to be next?” Megatron brushed his lips over the claim mark on the shoulder. “Deadlock will beget soon.”

Knock Out whined under Megatron’s words, arching up and pushing back as much as his position allowed to show his approval. Breakdown’s spike was still halfway down his intake so it wasn’t like he could _tell_ Megatron how much the idea of finally getting bred again aroused him. After all the pride had long ago decided that they could not afford to have more than one member out of commission by the strain that carrying put on the frame. No matter how much they would like to carry together. Or even carry at all. But if Deadlock was almost at term, there was no reason for Megatron to hold back. There would be a time after a successful breeding where Knock Out wasn’t incapacitated yet, where he could still do his duty for the Decepticon cause, all the while carrying their stud’s offspring close to his spark. And by the time he, in turn, was too heavy to work Deadlock would be back on duty. He moaned around Breakdown’s spike and nodded his head as best he could. Just in case the way he wiggled his aft wasn’t clear enough.

Breakdown fell back and fisted his free hand in the sheets. “Knock Out,” he moaned and thrust up into his lover’s mouth. Knock Out moaned again and spread his fingers wide, pleasantly stretching Breakdown’s valve. Lubricant was flowing freely, trying to bridge the gap between Knock Out’s fingers and the nodes desperate for attention. Breakdown’s hand twitched and pushed down slightly on Knock Out’s helm to keep him in place as he fragged his lover’s throat.

Megatron chuckled darkly and mouthed at the mating bite some more. Both carriers seemed plenty revved already, which suited him just fine. He shifted his grip and lifted Knock Out straight off the sheets. His helm was held in place of course, and his pedes still rested on the berth, but his hips and knees were hovering above it now. 

The medic moaned and spread his thighs further, doing his best to tilt his aft and display his slick valve. The very idea of him being next in their unofficial carrier order had been enough to wake half a dozen protocols stuck in sleep mode. One of them was a very resource intensive lubrication routine, and another a charge diverter focused on his deep valve nodes. Along with the other initializers onlining all over his HUD Knock Out was more than ready to be spiked. He was also grateful that Breakdown didn’t seem to need much in ways of cooperation to find his release right now.

Megatron straightened and surveyed his lovers with a feeling of smug satisfaction curling around his spark. He teased one claw over Knock Out’s slick valve lips, just to listen to his muffled moan and Breakdown’s resulting shout. The racer twitched in his hold but Megatron held him suspended off balance. “Very good.” He licked Knock Out’s lubricant from his claws, chemo receptors in his mouth latching onto all the markers that meant the breeding routines had started properly. It would take a few cycles from them to online completely. But that mostly meant the medic would be a sensitive eager mess in the meantime.

Breakdown shuddered and kneaded the sheets underneath his hand. Moans were spilling from his lips continuously, interspersed with the occasional gasp or shout. He barely had the coordination to push himself up, but he wanted to see. He shifted around until he knelt on trembling legs. Knock Out’s fingers were still teasing his valve mesh, spreading and pushing and rubbing at whatever hot spot he could reach. The strain on his systems was exquisite, vents working overtime trying to dispel the heat. But it was very worth it to struggle to his knees. The sight of Megatron rubbing the head of his spike through Knock Out’s valve lips alone. And then a drawn out moan vibrating the plates around his spike and almost sending him back onto his aft. After an astrosecond of indecision Breakdown locked half his motor routines and settled in for the show. He wouldn’t be able to frag Knock Out like this, but he was sure Megatron’s thrusts would more than make up for his lack.

Knock Out’s hand clamped onto Breakdown’s thigh plates for balance. With Breakdown on his knees he found himself mostly suspended between the two larger mecha, unable to do much beside spread himself out for the taking. Megatron’s spike was teasing the outermost nodes of his valve, which amped up the lubrication routine even further. He _needed_ the stud to spike him, preferably last cycle. A whine was building in his vocalizer, though it was lost beneath the roaring of his fans.

His HUD was filling up with alerts from the breeding suite, which was busy assessing his frame for carrying and adjusting things as it saw fit. One processor was assigned solely to the task of satisfying his breeding drive. It had already suborned motor control. Knock Out kept twitching futilely to try and entice the stud into properly spiking him. His calipers were stuck somewhere between relaxing as much as possible and clamping down tight, a state that was slowly driving his motor relays into overdrive.

Megatron couldn’t help but save a few image captures and an audio of Knock Out begging muffled by Breakdown’s spike. The he shifted his grip again to better support the racer’s comparatively delicate frame and sheathed himself in a single thrust.

Beneath him Knock Out shrieked and trashed and clamped his hand onto Breakdown’s plating hard enough to dent. The blue mech echoed the shout and his optics blazed bright crimson in overload.

The warlord shuddered and ground his spike deep into Knock Out’s valve to feel his caliper’s clench. The racer’s valve was slick and hot and charged enough to send shocks from Megatron’s spike up to his spark. Oh yes, every single protocol was online and ready for Megatron to take what was his, and give his carrier everything he needed. He pulled his hips back slowly before slamming back inside.

Knock Out moaned and gasped. Now that Breakdown had overloaded, the racer’s entire focus was narrowing to his own array and the delicious feeling of Megatron’s spike filling him. The warlord knew just how to use his frame to leave Knock Out in a puddle of bliss. But for now the stud seemed determined to whip their breeding imperatives into a frenzy. Megatron’s hips were rocking back and forth steadily with Knock Out caught in his huge servos.

Lubricant was flowing freely to slick his array, Megatron’s spike, his thighs, and likely the berth. But with the breeding suite in effect Knock Out didn’t care about the mess. What mattered was that the head of Megatron’s spike was grinding into the deep set nodes close to the gestation chamber. Every hard thrust seemed to stimulate all the nodes at once, triggering the calipers to clench down tight. Then Megatron would pull out and Knock Out’s valve relaxed to make the next push in all the easier.

The rhythm settled down deep inside Knock Out’s frame. Breakdown’s spike had slipped from his mouth as it depressurized, so Knock Out was left moaning into the blue hip plate. He was vaguely aware of the hand petting his helm, a pleasant counterpoint to the steady fragging his valve was receiving.

Watching his two carriers cling to each other set Megatron’s internal temperature to rise. His fans had lost already, but they were still running strongly in an attempt to keep him from overheating. Breakdown was still dazed, but not so out of it that he couldn’t stroke his lover’s helm. In return Knock Out clung to his lover and muffled his moans in blue plates. Megatron groaned and worked his hips faster. The racer’s valve was relaxing more and more, frame readying for the upcoming breeding. It wouldn’t happen tonight. Their frames weren’t ready for it. Their frames still needed to _align_ in all the right ways.

An alert popped up on Megatron’s HUD. The progress bar off to the side had appeared when his chemo receptors registered the carrier’s readiness. Now it was hovering at a teasing 98% waiting for him to trigger the final stage. “Are you ready?” He let his voice roll out over the carriers, making both of them shudder and groan in return.

“Yes” Knock Out gasped. He didn’t even need to consult his own HUD to know his frame could hardly be any more ready if he tried. “Lord Megatron, please.” Behind him a powerful flight engine turned over and Knock Out tilted his head aside in anticipation.

“As you wish.” Megatron leant down and sunk his denta into the mating bite. His chemo receptors registered the taste of Knock Out’s plates and the nanites that the breeding protocol had seeded the bit of plating with. He moaned and thrust deep into Knock Out’s valve even as the knot at the base started to swell.

Knock Out was very grateful for the hands holding him up as the bite threw him clear into overload. The charge that had gathered in his valve nodes released up into his frame, dancing over his plates and grounding into both his lovers. The valve calipers themselves clamped tightly. He could already feel the knot swelling and his own frame did its best to aid in locking them together.

Megatron rocked twice more before protocols judged him securely situated and triggered his own overload. Beneath him Knock Out moaned at the first splash of highly charged transfluid and clamped his calipers rhythmically. Which triggered the knot to swell more. Megatron moaned and loosened his hold to give the carrier more wriggle room. The knot was still swelling, stretching Knock Out’s valve calipers as much as they currently allowed. The tightness was breathtaking, aided by the ever increasing pressure of the transfluid filling all remaining space. It was much more conductive than simple valve lubricant, too, which meant that every twitch was only amping up Knock Out’s charge again.

Breakdown was watching with sparking optics as his lover worked himself atop their stud’s spike. It was an immensely erotic sight, to say nothing of Knock Out’s gasps and moans and the near continuous whine of his fans. He couldn’t help but feel envy rise in his spark, though Breakdown couldn’t be sure who exactly he was feeling envious of. Lord Megatron, for being able to give Knock Out this pleasure. Or Knock Out for being able to receive it with such abandon. Breakdown did his best to simply squash the thought. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but his own that he didn’t feel ready to carry again. And really, watching Knock Out moaning and gasping, optics bright and unfocused more than made up for it. To say nothing of the need that would keep his lover more than eager for his touch for the next while.

Knock Out gasped and panted, desperately trying to pull in air through his helm vents to keep his processors cool. His valve was sending so much sensory data it was difficult to sort out the pressure warnings from the charge levels. Everything felt tense and pleasant and he was caught between two mechs more than able to handle him as he twisted and grabbed at them. More and more processor resources were allocated to his valve feedback. The steady inflow of highly charged transfluid was driving his buffers crazy. Soon they would trigger the safety override on the breeding protocol to stop the charge diversion. Knock Out simultaneously dreaded and looked forward to the moment _all_ his nodes would return to the sensor grid. To say nothing of the way the transfluid kept expanding his valve mesh. There was an entire backup sensor net waiting to come online in just this situation. With all that it didn’t take long for Knock Out’s charge to crest again, pushing him into a screaming overload.

Megatron moaned and rocked his hips into the slick heat of Knock Out’s valve as the carrier screamed his way through his second overload, which was quickly followed by a third. His own was still ongoing, a pleasant tide of charge that rose and fell with the pulse of his transfluid chamber emptying. It was a heady feeling which Megatron reveled in. His servos kept hold of Knock Out’s hips while his mouth teased over red shoulder plates. The medic was reduced to keening softly, frame subsumed by pleasure and detached from anything that wasn’t his valve readying itself for a breeding cycle.

Once his transfluid reservoir reported depletion Megatron’s HUD threw up a successful execution alert and a timer. ‘Estimated 2.65 joor until transfluid absorption complete,’ it informed him cheerily. Megatron shivered in delight at the idea of spending almost half of his recharge cycle intimately joined with one of his carriers. Knock Out’s valve was still spasming in an unpredictable rhythm and both their fans were still working overtime to dispel the heat of their coupling. It would likely take half a joor just for their frames to settle down enough to recharge, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t get comfortable in the meantime.

“Help me get settled,” Megatron ordered and shifted his hold so Knock Out was wrapped firmly in his arms and supported against his chest.

The medic whined as the move jostled the spike still inside him, pressure easily rippling through the mess of transfluid and lubricant to push into all his valve nodes in an unpredictable pattern. Above him Megatron groaned and ground his pelvis against Knock Out’s aft, sending more ripples out. Luckily Breakdown was there to catch them and guide their fall to the berth.

They ended up on their side with Knock Out draped over Breakdown as if he were a body pillow. Megatron was curled against Knock Out from behind with his arm thrown over both carriers to rest atop Breakdown’s spark. The blue mech just sighed and used his pede to pull the covers up to their hips. Even settled between two larger frames Knock Out was known to grow cold at night and not even the haze of carrier coding could quell his bitching. So Breakdown pulled the covers over them and curled himself around his lover as best he could, quickly dropping into recharge.


	4. Why we fight

A ping on his comm suite woke Megatron shortly before shift change. For a moment he thought it was the sparklings again. They’d called out twice during the night. The first time had been early on while Megatron and Knock Out were still joined. Breakdown had gone over to settle them down. And then again later, after they had separated. Megatron had snuck from the room and taken care of Ratbat and the twins before settling in his own room. He would have to return to Knock Out in the morning, but he could leave the pair to their recharge.

But this wasn’t the nursery alert. Instead it was his personal comm and a moment after that the door opened. Just Soundwave then. With a groan Megatron turned onto his side and onlined his optics. It was indeed Soundwave in the door with Ratbat cradled against his chest, little fingers hooked into the connection points Laserbeak usually occupied. She had her own room to share with Buzzsaw and didn’t recharge with Soundwave and him anymore. Next to Soundwave, holding onto his free hand, was a sleepy Starshine.

“Starshine: woke when I checked on Ratbat,” Soundwave told him. ::I told her she could rest with you if she stayed quiet.:: He added over comms.

With a sigh Megatron scooted back on the berth to make more room and propped his helm up on his hand. “Come on then, little one.” ::Do you want to hit the washracks while I mind them?::

Starshine let out a short squeal before muting her vocalizer with a click, a skill she had only recently mastered. She rushed across the room and bounced on her pedes to climb up onto the berth. It was still chest-high for the sparkling, so Megatron reached out to steady her. She was smiling broadly when she made it onto the plush padding and crawled over to settle against Megatron’s chest.

Megatron placed a kiss on her small red helm and hugged her close to his frame. Starshine in return hugged his arm tightly to her chest and got comfortable.

::Negative:: Soundwave walked to the berth more slowly and settled in the free space with Ratbat safely between them. He reached across both sparklings to rest his hand on Megatron’s side.

Megatron leaned into the touch and settled down into the covers again. ::How was your shift?::

::Uneventful:: Soundwave commed back, easily shielding the sparklings from their chatter. If they were lucky Starshine would drop into recharge now that she was enveloped in Megatron’s EM field and felt his engine thrum against her plating. ::How was your evening?::

There was a note of mischief in Soundwave’s voice. Megatron smirked and sent back an image capture taken during the previous evening, quickly followed by a soundbite of Knock Out moaning.

Soundwave’s visor flickered and his fans clicked before forcibly being shut down. ::Knock Out will be carrying?::

::His breeding suite came online beautifully:: Megatron agreed. ::And Deadlock is more than ready to beget::

Soundwave let his EM field show his pleasure, enveloping the sparklings and Megatron in a fuzzy cloud of affection. _This_ was what they were fighting for. The simple pleasure of carrying as they pleased. The right to use their frames as they pleased.

When Ravage had been sparked the two mecha had still been in the arena. Five to a berth room with no regard for pride bonds. Not that Megatron had bonded to anyone but Soundwave. Still, the breeding cycle alone had been difficult to hide from supervisors who firmly believed all mecha should come from Vector Sigma. The upheaval after their discovery had almost lead to both of their deactivation. After all it wouldn’t do for any of the other gladiators to get _ideas_. In the end they had begged and argued and pleaded with their supervisor until Soundwave had been allowed to keep his sparkling. Megatron had spent the following vorn fighting more than twice as many fights to make up for the lost revenue of Soundwave staying out of the ring. They had both delighted in offlining the supervisor and his enforcer early into the uprising.

These days there were none of the old worries. Just them, their pride, their sparklings, and the grinding campaign against Prime and his misguided followers.

Megatron let his engines idle and sent his own affection rolling back toward Soundwave. Between them the sparklings squealed. Starshine burrowed more firmly against him while Ratbat squirmed over to Soundwave.

The two mechs didn’t hesitate to gather the sparklings up for more comprehensive cuddling. There was no chance of anyone going back to recharge now. But Megatron didn’t mind. He would languish in bed with his first carrier and two of his offspring until the others woke. And there was nowhere he’d rather be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that.  
> I hope you all enjoyed it. I already have 2.5 offshots percolating that I will get to, when I get to them  
> Thank you again, kinkmeme OP, for infecting me with this bunny. It's a blast  
> If you are interested you can also find me on tumblr at [entangledwood](entangledwood.tumblr.com)


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